Brenda Miller, foreground, of the advocacy group PEDal listens with San Clemente planning commissioners Tuesday night to a presentation about a proposed Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan for the city.

These are some of the issues raised by local residents at input sessions for a proposed San Clemente Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan.

These are the main recommendations of a Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan presented Tuesday to the San Clemente Planning Commission, which will analyze the plan and send recommendations to the City Council.

Charlie Gandy, the city of Long Beach's mobility adviser, explains to San Clemente city officials during a bike tour in March how a bike corral like this one, costing $1,500, can fit 14 bikes where one car parked in the past. Two extra bikes can fit along the back.

A cyclist rides in the parking lane on South Ola Vista in San Clemente where riders share the road with auto traffic. San Clemente is on the road toward adopting what could be a game-changing Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan.

South Ola Vista in San Clemente has a lane for parking, bike riding and traffic as well as a center turn lane. San Clemente is on the road toward adopting what could be a game-changing Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan.

A cyclist rides on South Ola Vista in San Clemente where the road has a lane for parking, bike riding and traffic as well as a center turn lane. The city is trying to become more bike friendly.

A cyclist rides in the parking lane on South Ola Vista in San Clemente where riders share the road with auto traffic. San Clemente is on the road toward adopting what could be a game-changing Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan.

A cyclist rides on South Ola Vista in San Clemente where riders share the road with auto traffic. San Clemente is on the road toward adopting what could be a game-changing Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan.

San Clemente is on the road toward adopting what could be a game-changing bicycle and pedestrian master plan. But the plan also figures to involve some challenging decisions about how to allocate road space.

“This is a landmark document in process,” Pete van Nuys, a local resident and director of the Orange County Bicycle Coalition, told the city Planning Commission on Tuesday night. “I have contacts and talk to people across the country. Let me assure you that no city that has taken steps to become more bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly regrets it. It does bring change. I think it will bring change rather soon.

“Every substantive improvement we make will produce demonstrable results,” he said.

“I think we’re a model for everybody,” said Brenda Miller, a San Clemente bicycle and pedestrian advocate who has helped city staff and consultants draft the plan. “Don’t be afraid to dream big.”

The Planning Commission took its first look at a plan designed to encourage more people to walk and ride bicycles in San Clemente instead of driving. Commissioners expect to discuss it further Oct. 17.

The plan discusses bike-friendly city policies, safety education and projects to improve bike routes and add bike racks. It suggests grant-seeking strategies to carry out projects to make it safer and easier to navigate the town on foot or on a bike.

Planning commissioners didn’t discuss any of the specific projects, though they did allude to projects designed to make it easier for residents of northeast San Clemente to ride to the beach. The city could try to infuse the study’s findings into a Caltrans plan to expand the I-5/Avenida Pico interchange.

Bill Cameron, San Clemente’s public-works director and city engineer, cautioned that it could be challenging to design some projects, with San Clemente’s hilly topography a constraint. Some projects may involve eliminating a vehicle traffic lane to improve cycling safety, which raises the question of competing interests – cyclists currently are a tiny minority.

“How do we deal with our limited rights of way and try to provide the best level of service we can to our folks?” Cameron said.

John Holloway, a mobility planner hired by the city to help draft the plan, said it represents a change in philosophy. In March, San Clemente officials did a bicycle tour of Long Beach to learn how that city made some hard decisions in adopting the motto “Most bicycle-friendly city in America.”

San Clemente’s proposed plan is designed to be consistent with California’s Complete Streets Act of 2008, which says cities must design transportation improvements that put all forms of transportation – foot, bicycle and mass transit – on par with the automobile. Miller suggested the city change the way it defines the efficiency of intersections to base it on all forms of traffic, not just cars.

IN OTHER CITIES

“San Clemente’s (plan) is way ahead of every other O.C. city,” van Nuys said after the meeting. “Huntington Beach is in the early stages. Other cities, like Anaheim, may be amending their circulation elements in response to Complete Streets, but without the vision of our document.”

PLAN FOR PICO?

A $60,000 study commissioned by the city of San Clemente is looking at options for making busy Avenida Pico safer for cyclists between Camino Vera Cruz and El Camino Real. A key obstacle is how to get cyclists safely under I-5; westbound is the biggest challenge. One option being studied, Miller said, is making a drainage tunnel under I-5 usable as a bike route.

Fred Swegles grew up in small-town San Clemente before the freeway. He has covered the town since 1970. Today he covers San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano. He was in the second graduating class at San Clemente High School, after having spent the first two years of high school in double sessions at historic Capistrano Union High School in San Juan. When the new high school opened, he became first sports editor of the school paper, The Triton. He studied journalism and Spanish at USC on scholarship, graduating with honors. Was sports editor of the Daily Trojan. Surfed on the USC surf team. (High school surfing didn't exist back then.) With the Sun Post, he began covering competitive surfing from the mid-1970s, with the birth of the the modern world tour and the origins of high school surf teams. He got into surf photography and into world travel. Has surfed on six continents (not Antarctica). Has visited 11 San Clementes. Has written photo-illustrated profiles on most of them, with more in the works.

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